My Life Will Rule FearGabrielle Glorioso

Explain an experience that defines you.

My harness was tightened. My sweaty hands clutched onto the bar. My toes dangled off the edge of the platform. Every horrible outcome to this scenario raced through my mind. “Whenever you’re ready, Gabby.” All I had to do was lift my feet and I’d zoom away into the woods, only supported by a cable. I held my breath, and leaped off. I was leaping to my freedom, and to my future.

In the winter of 2015, a friend invited me to YoungLife, a Christian ministry that reaches out to adolescents throughout our community. She was one of the few friends who knew my struggles with anxiety, including my compulsive fear of fainting and the horror of finding myself in large crowds. She thought I would benefit from a growing community of support from people of all walks of life. Doubt filled my mind as I saw this opportunity as another failed attempt at a cure, yet I was willing to try. Monday night was here all too soon, and as the doors to the club room opened, I was greeted by an overwhelming amount of high fives from leaders of all ages. Cheers filled the air, and my first reaction was to flee. I felt the crippling physical changes in my body as the panic set in. A band played Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” as the crowd of high schoolers...